The issue hit home for Payne, founding partner at Centurion Wealth Management in McLean, when her uncle died unexpectedly. Her aunt and uncle were sure they had done everything right. As it turned out, that wasn’t the case.

Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (Westchester/Rockland), the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee, today announced the introduction of the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act during an event at Meals on Wheels of Rockland in Nanuet, NY, alongside local caregivers, senior citizens, elected officials, and advocacy organization representatives. The proposal would provide a Social Security earnings credit to caregivers who have to leave the labor force or reduce their hours to care for a loved one.

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a new report detailing the unique challenges women face in accessing a secure retirement. The report details how women often struggle with financial hardship in retirement more than men, and among women 65 and older, the poverty rate is nearly double that of men in the same age group.

The gender gap in retirement income security happens because women are marrying less and working more but still being paid less than men. In 2013, the most recent year for which these data are available, women earned 82% of the median earnings of full-time male workers. Lower earnings lead, on average, to lower Social Security payments, retirement savings, and pensions.

This week another GOP presidential hopeful, Jeb Bush, announced his support for raising the retirement age, a policy that would force older workers with inadequate retirement savings to depend on the labor market for needed income and savings. Yet, today's federal jobs report announced a May unemployment rate of 3.7% for older workers over 55 and nearing retirement. This is a decrease of 0.3 percentage points since last month, but it still means that 1.5 million older workers want to work but can't find a job.

Trends in female employment all add up to a "perfect storm" for women's retirement, says a labor economist. Those trends also raise women's stakes in any election-year discussion of adding or subtracting from Social Security.

Here is what we know: The retirement savings crisis is enormous. By some estimates, Americans are under-saved by up to $14 trillion. This number may in fact be understated, because it assumes Social Security and Medicare solvency – a big if.

I’ve had this thought in my head for a while now. I’ve been thinking that I can’t afford for my wife to be a Stay-At-Home Mom. Now, I don’t at all mean to offend anyone with this post. I just have to say that for me personally, I can’t afford it. I’d like to explain exactly what I mean by that so that no one thinks I’m in any way devaluing Stay-At-Home Moms. On the contrary, I mean that I quite literally cannot afford my wife to be staying at home. Here’s why...

Women’s History Month is a time when we celebrate the incredible strides of women and girls in our country. But even as we continue to talk about shattering the glass ceiling and breaking down barriers, far too many women have their dreams of college and a successful life dashed by economic adversity.

“I am fifty years old and the 27 years I have been working have been a combination of full-time and part-time employment, with several years of no employment so that I could stay home with my baby. I am back to work full-time now but want to know how all of this will affect my Social Security benefit when I am retired?”